My 10 year old daughter has explained now a couple of years since she has accepted the LORD that she doesn't "feel" saved. Asks "How do I know I'm saved."
I am going to be asking if she understand what sin is, what forgiveness is. If she understands that the compulsion to do the right thing can be or is the work of the Holy Spirit in her life. Evidence of the Lord in her heart would be that she love others and that she can give of herself sacrificially and prayer and Christian counsel is reliable way to navigate life on this earth. She should love others and know when mercy and justice are the appropriate course of action.
I wonder if any of my Christian brothers and sisters have some insight or experience here.
Thank you
The question your daughter has asked is, I think, among the most important questions any person can ask. And God has a clear answer. When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit brings to them in himself the life of Christ, spiritual life, and cleansing from their sin.
Titus 3:5
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
1 Corinthians 6:11
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Spirit takes up residence within the person who has trusted in Christ as their Savior and Lord and it is by His presence within the person that they are "born-again" spiritually, given the life of Christ (
Colossians 3:3-4; Philippians 1:21; Romans 8:9-10) and forever changed, made a "new creature in Christ." (
2 Corinthians 5:17)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Why am I reminding you of these things? Because it is the effect of the Spirit within a saved person, the work of the Spirit in them, that is the primary means by which a person can assess the reality of their salvation. When Christians speak of "experiencing God," they are speaking of what
the Spirit has/is doing in and through their lives.
What does the Bible say is supposed to be the saved person's common experience of the Spirit? This is the answer to your daughter's question. She can know she is saved because, through the work of the Spirit in her life, the "Spirit bears witness with her spirit that she is a child of God." (
Romans 8:16) Here, then, are the most basic manifestations of the Spirit in a saved person's life:
1.) The Spirit
convicts the born-again believer of sin,
illuminates/teaches God's truth, and
glorifies God in the minds and hearts of all believers.
John 16:8-15 (NASB)
8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. (See also:
1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 1 John 2:27)
2.) The Spirit strengthens the born-again believer in times of trial and temptation.
Ephesians 3:16 (NASB)
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
Philippians 2:13 (NASB)
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Romans 8:13 (NASB)
13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NASB)
3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
3.) The Spirit "bears fruit" in the character and conduct of the born-again believer.
Galatians 5:22-24 (NASB)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Ephesians 5:8-9 (KJV)
8 For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth)
4.) The Spirit leads the believer.
Romans 8:14 (NASB)
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
5.) The Spirit causes the born-again believer to love the Christian brethren.
1 John 3:14 (NASB)
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
Here, then, is a short list of the most common traits of a person who is really saved. There are other characteristics evident in a person who is truly born-again that the Bible describes, but the ones I've listed are, I think, the most readily observable and most basic in one's life (and the life of others claiming membership in God's family).
It is important to remember that every saved person "grows up" in the faith (
1 Corinthians 3:6-7; Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 4:15-16; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18, etc.) they go through a process of spiritual maturation, over time becoming more and more like Christ and increasingly manifesting the work of the Spirit in their life. Your daughter will know, and love, and walk in joy with God with
increasing depth and strength. She's like an apple tree that begins as a sapling, unable at first to produce fruit but growing, bit by bit, toward a fully-sized tree, strong, deeply-rooted, and finally bringing forth a profusion of big, sweet apples. But this will take years to come to pass. As one man has said, "It takes a squash four months to grow to maturity but a mighty, towering oak requires many decades to do the same. Which would you rather be? A squash or a mighty oak?" Sometimes, we rush an immature believer to grow and get a spiritual "squash" as a result, rather than a spiritual "mighty oak."
In any case, your daughter should be able to mark all of the things Scripture says the Spirit does in a born-again person in her own life if she is really saved. They may not be there in grand proportion but they will be there in some measure if she's been made new spiritually.